Siege of Douglas Castle

The Siege of Douglas Castle occurred in 1307 when the Scottish king Robert Bruce and his lieutenant James Douglas took back Douglas' home, Douglas Castle, in a surprise attack on its English garrison during Palm Sunday prayers. The English prisoners were brutally burned alive in an incident which came to be known as the "Douglas Larder", and Douglas was soon nicknamed "The Black Douglas" for his dread. The fall of Douglas Castle led to Prince Edward seeking a decisive battle against the Scots, culminating in the English defeat at the Battle of Loudoun Hill.

Background
In 1307, the outlawed Scottish king Robert Bruce began a guerrilla war against the English occupiers of Scotland, inaugurating the campaign with the recapture and destruction of Kildrummy Castle following a surprise attack within the castle walls. Next, the Scots targeted Douglas Castle, the home of James Douglas, Lord of Douglas, whose lands and titles had been confiscated by the English following his father's death in the Tower of London in 1298.

Battle
With the help of a local farmer who had once served his father, Douglas and his small troop were hidden until the morning of Palm Sunday, when the garrison left the castle's battlements to attend Mass. The cloaked Scottish warriors also entered the church, pretending to be local villagers; as the English soldiers sat to observe the Sabbath, the Scottish warriors drew daggers and swords and ambushed the English soldiers in their pews. The English were slaughtered, and Douglas shouted the war cry "Douglas! Douglas!" The English prisoners were taken into the castle and placed atop a bonfire which was fuelled by the castle's wine stores, and the Scots then had the wells poisoned with salt and the carcasses of dead horses. The "Douglas Larder" incident struck fear into the hearts of the English, who nicknamed the Scottish nobleman "The Black Douglas."